At Harvard’s 10th annual Plant Biology Symposium, climate expert Chris Field talked about the need to evaluate environmental risks in the coming decades even as many people work to reduce climate-warming emissions.

Five winners have been named as recipients of this year’s Star Family Challenge for Promising Scientific Research awards. Now in its second year, the challenge is designed to acknowledge and support some of the most innovative research being done by Harvard faculty in the natural and social sciences.

According to the University’s Sustainability Report, released online today, various conservation measures and behavior changes have already contributed to 60 percent of Harvard’s progress in meeting its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2016.

Unilever CEO Paul Polman outlined the multinational corporation’s commitment to environmental sustainability during a talk at Harvard Business School’s Spangler Center on April 10 as part of Climate Week events at Harvard.

The Harvard University Center for the Environment is sponsoring Climate Week, featuring breakfasts with scientists working on the problems along with a variety of climate-centered activities, from talks by prominent scientists to poetry readings to informal gatherings.

The Gazette asked Henry Lee, an authority on electric cars and the Jassim M. Jaidah Family Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program at the Belfer Center, about the opportunity for the Postal Service to improve its environmental footprint — and perhaps spark broader automotive changes — through a more fuel-efficient replacement for the current model, which gets roughly 9 miles per gallon.

A Harvard-led study reveals that an aging natural-gas distribution system short-changes Boston-area customers and contributes to greenhouse-gas buildup. Depending on the season, natural gas leaking from the local distribution system accounts for 60 percent to 100 percent of the region’s emissions of methane.

Peter Girguis, professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, hosted nearly two dozen Cambridge Rindge & Latin School students on Harvard’s campus for a discussion about the various career paths available in marine science.

Harvard’s Robert Stavins discusses the importance of flexible rules that allow national carbon markets, if established under a future climate agreement, to link, which would increase efficiency and cut costs of reducing carbon emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s release of draft regulations that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 will have a significant impact on human health, Harvard analysts say.

Beginning this fall, Harvard undergraduates will be able to select a secondary field of study in energy and environment, which will allow students in an array of concentrations to gain exposure to issues such as climate change.

Despite this year’s long winter and slow-warming spring, Harvard experts say that climate change hasn’t gone on hiatus. Long-term evidence indicates that spring in Boston has begun coming weeks earlier over the last century. The Gazette spoke with Elizabeth Wolkovich, a recently appointed assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, about spring’s arrival, climate change, and nature’s life cycles.

Since it was founded in 2006 by Professor Jody Freeman, Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law and Policy Program has become the leader in its field, with renowned faculty, innovative courses, a lauded clinical program that gives students hands-on training in real cases. The program’s new Policy Initiative provides nonpartisan legal analysis and policy advice to federal and state agencies.

After analyzing tree rings — and 400 years of history — researchers from Harvard Forest have indicated ways in which seemingly stable forests could abruptly change over the next century in the wake of climate change and drought.

In addition to conducting research and teaching about climate, energy, and the environment, Harvard faculty members also serve as expert advisers to policymakers, putting their science to work to improve laws and regulations and to foster understanding between the worlds of government and academics.

From the violence of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot to Earth’s own extreme weather, Ziff Environmental Fellow Pedram Hassanzadeh is investigating atmospheric vortices, those swirling air masses that make the weather go — and sometimes make it stop.

Harvard Forest researchers, together with state officials and representatives of conservation groups, are proposing a Massachusetts forest plan that increases both conservation and logging, while carefully focusing development to conserve as many large tracts as possible.

Emissions of methane from fossil fuel extraction and refining activities in the United States are nearly five times higher than previous estimates, according to researchers at Harvard University and seven other institutions.

Representatives from some 195 nations have converged on Warsaw this week for a two-week meeting focused on climate change expected to lay the groundwork for the next international climate agreement. The Gazette spoke with climate policy expert Robert Stavins of the Kennedy School to understand what’s expected from the session.